Getting Your Data Back from Crashed Laptop Hard Drive
Terrified that your valuable files vanished into thin air when your laptop’s hard drive suddenly crashed without warning? What are the laptop data recovery techniques that you can use? Here are some ways:
Retrieve those precious data by removing the malfunctioning hard drive from your laptop. Get or purchase an external enclosure device so you could connect the hard drive to a working computer via USB cable. Browse through your hard drive and transfer your files either to a second external hard drive or to the working computer. Oftentimes when you have large files such as videos and music, the transfer can take many hours to complete. Close the window to your hard drive when the transfer is done. Reinstall your operating system to your hard drive.
If you are a Mac laptop owner, you can transfer your files by borrowing a working Mac and using a FireWire cable to hook your hard drive into the functioning PC. Do not turn the working computer on while connecting. As you turn it on, press the T key and hold it down until you can see the FireWire icon. This will allow you to ‘Target Boot’. If booting is successful, you can now retrieve your needed files.
There are also available laptop data recovery software. You can purchase it from local computer stores or you can download at the reputable sites. There are free downloadable laptop data recovery software and there are some that require a fee. When things get too complex for you, you can always go to computer clinics and avail the services of a certified laptop recovery company who can almost always solve the problem. However, you must be prepared to pay handsomely for their services.
Your laptop can be with you wherever you go. Its portability has served you well. But since it is mobile, anything can happen to it. So in the event, when the hard drive of your laptop crashed, don’t panic. Complete laptop data recovery can be achieved through various methods.
By following the user’s manual for your laptop, remove the defective hard drive carefully. Get or purchase an external enclosure, which could connect the hard drive to a working computer via USB cable. Hopefully at this time, you have opened and browsed through your files in your hard drive. Transfer can now begin by copy-paste, click-drag etc methods either to another external hard drive or to the computer you are working at. Don’t be surprised if it takes many hours if you have large files such as videos and music. Close the window to your hard drive when the process is complete.
If your laptop is a Mac, a FireWire cable is needed. Borrow a working Mac and use the cable to hook your hard drive into it. Keep the power off when connecting. As you turn it on, press the T key and hold it down until you can see the FireWire icon. This will enable you to ‘Target Boot’. If successful, you can now retrieve your needed files. Other options would be purchasing laptop data recovery software. There are also free downloadable software available but choose a reputable site. Software products usually walk you through the process of retrieving your data.
If you want to avoid these do-it-yourself hassles, you can always secure the services of laptop data recovery experts like Hard Drive Recovery Associates, who can do the job for you. But be warned, it can be costly.
We just received a nice letter from one of the Be Climate Smart readers… Here it is:
Have you ever had the experience of working with your laptop in order to meet the deadliest of deadlines and then suddenly, you hear a scary clicking sound? It’s truly a brutal thing, let me tell you. Do not be afraid because you will be alright eventually – you just have to find out whether or not you will need laptop data recovery. If indeed there is a broken laptop hard drive, then there is not need to blame yourself – a broken laptop hard disk will happen, as these drives do fail eventually.
This is what I experienced just a couple of months ago. It was during the final examination where one of my professors required us to submit a five-page reaction paper about a particular movie. Just to impress him, I made sure that I used the most accurate words possible. But when I was about to edit the paper, I suddenly heard a “tick-tack” sound. At first, I thought it was just the sound of an ordinary alarm clock that we used to have at home. However, to my dismay the laptop turned off without any notice at all. I tried to reboot it but still no progress. I was just lucky enough because my cousin works for a company called Hard Drive Recovery Associates. He checked the components in the hard drive only to find out that the read and write heads were poorly misaligned, which does happen in some drives after a good period of use.
If you find yourself in this situation, you probably shouldn’t worry, though. It’s better to just let a professional data recovery service take care of you. I liked HDRA because they are a very environmentally friendly company. You don’t see a lot of green recovery companies these days, but they are very conscious, which is nice.